Merse Wellness Spa is Fitness Cartel’s most ambitious project yet, and their first standalone bathhouse destination. We caught up with the team ahead of its October opening in Coomera.
With an estimated cost of up to $3 million, the purpose-built 600-square-metre centre will have up to 700 members, create 10 new jobs and bring a new standard for wellness to the northern Gold Coast.
“For us, this isn’t just another location – it’s our first standalone Merse Wellness destination in Queensland,” says CEO Nathan James. “We can’t wait to open the doors.”
We caught up with Nathan ahead of Merse Wellness Coomera’s opening this October.
The Gold Coast is wellness obsessed. Why do you think locals will be excited about Merse specifically?
The Gold Coast already does wellness brilliantly, but the conversation here has mostly been about fitness, gyms and group training – the daily training side of things. Recovery and relaxation, at a serious level, has been the missing piece, and so has the integration between movement and recovery.
Merse Coomera is built to bring those worlds together. We’ve put a dedicated Pilates studio under the same roof as the bathhouse, recovery and magnesium wellness experiences, so members can move and recover in the one space, on the one membership.
The other piece I think locals will love is what we’ve built underneath the experience. The water in our pools is constantly refreshed, every six to fifteen minutes, and we use 500 kilograms of magnesium to support recovery and relaxation. To our knowledge, there’s nothing else quite like it operating in Australia. Most other bathhouses run on essentially stagnant, heavily chlorinated water that doesn’t change over.
And the price point matters too. We’re building a genuinely premium experience but pricing memberships from only $39 a week for unlimited access during the pre-sale period. So, it’s something people can build into their week rather than save up for as an occasional treat.
There are a few bathhouses and other wellness destinations on the Gold Coast, but most are further south. Why was Coomera the perfect choice for your next location?
There are a few bathhouses and other wellness destinations on the Gold Coast, but most are further south. Why was Coomera the perfect choice for your next location?Coomera is one of the fastest-growing communities in Southeast Queensland, and when you look at the precinct around Westfield, it’s already a strong fitness and lifestyle pocket. What it didn’t have was a dedicated wellness, recovery and movement destination at a premium level – that gap is exactly what Merse Coomera is built to fill.
Location-wise, it’s about as accessible as it gets. We’re directly opposite Westfield Coomera, with a new road going straight from our site to the centre, so for locals it’s a few minutes from where they already shop, train and live. We didn’t want this to be somewhere people drove half an hour to visit once a month, we wanted it to be part of everyday life.
And the broader north-Gold-Coast catchment of Coomera, Upper Coomera and Pimpama has the demographic profile of people who are already investing in their health and looking for the next step beyond a standard gym or a one-off treatment. That’s our audience.
Other than the obvious wellness benefits, how will Merse support the northern Gold Coast community?
The most immediate is jobs, Merse Coomera will create around 10 new local roles when we’re fully operational, across hospitality, member experience, Pilates instruction and wellness expertise.
Beyond that, we see Merse as part of the local wellness ecosystem rather than competing with it. Our Pilates studio gives us a natural connection point with the broader movement community on the Gold Coast, and we want to work alongside local physios, allied health practitioners and trainers who have clients who would benefit hugely from recovery, and we have a space designed exactly for that.
What are the differences between Merse and a traditional day spa?
The big difference is the breadth of what’s on offer. A day spa is built around a single treatment experience. Merse Coomera puts a dedicated Pilates studio, the bathhouse, recovery zones, compression, red light therapy as well as relaxation spaces under one roof. You can come in and do a Pilates class, move into the hot and cold experience, and finish in the recovery lounge all on the same membership. That integration of movement and recovery is something day spas simply aren’t set up to deliver.
How did Merse Wellness come about? What inspired you to enter the world of wellness spas?
Several years ago, I went through one of the most challenging periods of my life and experienced severe anxiety. As someone who had spent decades in the fitness industry, it was something I had never truly understood until I experienced it myself.
During that time, I discovered hot and cold therapy. What started as an experiment quickly became part of my weekly routine. The combination of heat, cold and recovery gave me a genuine reset. It improved my mental clarity, reduced stress and helped me feel like myself again.
I still use hot and cold therapy two or three times a week today. It’s helped me improve my recovery, maintain lean muscle and perform at a higher level, both physically and mentally.
I have four kids, and my goal isn’t just to keep up with them, it’s to be the healthiest, strongest and most energetic dad I can be for decades to come.
That experience made me realise this powerful wellness tools shouldn’t be reserved for people who can afford expensive home setups or luxury retreats. That’s really where the idea for Merse came from: creating a world-class wellness experience that everyday people can access as part of their weekly routine.
Do you have any tips for readers who have never dipped their toe (pun intended) into a wellness spa, and want to get the most out of their experience?
My biggest tip is to not be intimidated by the cold plunge. That’s the part most first-timers worry about, but it’s also the part most people come back for. There’s a real sense of accomplishment in sitting in the cold water and then there’s the physical reaction, your body flushing itself with adrenaline and the feel-good chemicals that help improve circulation, muscle recovery, stress reduction and overall mental resilience.
For a first visit, I’d allow yourself somewhere between sixty and ninety minutes, enough time to move through the experience without rushing. Hydrate well before you arrive. A good rhythm is to start in the hot rock sauna or a hot magnesium bath for around ten to fifteen minutes, shower in the monsoon shower then move into the cold plunge for one to three minutes, and repeat that cycle two or three times. Finish with quiet time in a relaxation space, give your body a few minutes to settle.
If you can, pair the bathhouse with one of our Pilates sessions in the studio. A gentle Pilates class beforehand warms the body up and means you arrive at the hot and cold experience feeling open and mobile rather than tight the recovery effect is noticeably better, and it gives you a complete movement-and-recovery loop in one visit.
The other thing I’d say is come back. The benefits compound. One visit will feel great. A few visits a month, paired with sleep and good nutrition, will change how you feel in your body. That’s why we built this as a membership rather than a one-off booking the people who get the most out of it are the people who treat it as part of their week.
